the holiday season is not quite here yet but mitt romney is all about gift giving. it's thursday, november 15th and this is "now." joining me today, rolling stone executive editor eric bates and msnbc contributor, sam stein of "the huffington post." not content with damage done by his 47% comments, mitt romney expand on his ticket'smakers versus takes are theme in a 20-minute conference call with donors yesterday. according to romney the reason he lost is because obama gave, quote, gifted to various democratic voting blocs. according to "the l.a. times" on a call with donors, romney had this to say -- with the president -- what the president's campaign did was focus certain members of his base coalition, gave them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and worked

aggressively to turn them out to vote. romney specifically referenced the african-american community, hispanics and young voters as beneficiaries of obama's large essaying the obama campaign was generous in what they gabe to the groups. according to abc news, romney had this to say about obama's gifts to latino community. what the president did is he gave them two things. one he gave them a big gift on immigration with the dream act and the amnesty program. romney's targeting of the gift takers, african-americans, latinos, young voter is noteworthy giving the gop's problem with african-americans, latinos and young voters. romney said this, quote, with regards to african-american voters, obama care was a huge plus. and was highly motivation toll african-american voters. you can imagine for somebody making $25,000, $30,000 a year being told you're going to get

free health care particularly if you don't have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 a family in perpetuity, i mean this is huge. likewise, with hispanic voters, free health care was a huge plus. another word for gifts is handouts. who likes handouts better than african-americans and hispanics? never mind that according to the department of health and human services his span ins make up 32.5, african-americans make up 15.9% and white people 44.6% of the insured. romney campaign official confirmed authenticity of the remarks but noted governor romney was elaborated on what axlerod said about the obama campaign's effort to target key demographics, specifically women. other republicans in a bid to avoid party imlation pushed back including governor bobby jindal. >> absolutely reject that notion

that description. i think that's absolutely wrong. i don't think that represents where we are as a part and where we're going as a party. that's got to be one of the most fundamental takeaways from the election. >> joining us discuss all of this and more, republican strategic mark mckinnon co-founder of no labels which aims to get political leaders to stop fighting and start fixing. a lot needs to be fixed. i guess i wonder, as someone that has watched this election cycle, what you make of the ashes that have resulted at the end of it, which is to say, how does the republican party go on and what do they need to do from here? you see two various factions of the party, mitt romney on one side, someone like bobby jindal seemingly on the other? >> i come down squarely with governor jindal. the last thing the party needs to do is to be looking backwards, casting blame. there needs to be self-reflection and taking responsibility for the outcome, not blaming others. we need to expand the base.

we need to be more diverse, tolerant. you know, romney's remarks show not only tone deafness but a flaw in his character, i think. and he didn't deserve to win if that's his view of the election and we had an outcome justified. the republicans got what they deserved. i like the governor jindal approach. we need to reflect, grow, to go back to some principles but not back to the past. we need to look forward and talk about put compassion back in conservatism. we need to take a no-labels approach and talk about problem solving, not ideology. we need to get to core problems and talk about -- that's what american voters told us they want. they don't want more partisan rhetoric. they want problem solving. >> sam in ploolitico today, mik allen writes republicans tell us the comments made by romney convince them romney doesn't get it and the 47% was no slip of

the tongue. >> hard to argue. this is the essence of the 47% comments that he made originally, that he said were just misconstrued, that he was talking about the electoral map. obvious irony here with mitt romney saying this stuff. for starters, the health care law that they calls a gift to all of the minority voters, this was based off of romney care. this is a concept mitt romney put in place as a state. obama would never have gotten this concept if romney didn't do it. in addition, what he's he saying is that obama won because he passed policies that people liked. and you know that's what politics is, sorry. it's just the basic -- basis of politic. romney knows this because he made suggestions that were, quote/unquote, gifts to voters during the campaign. he wanted to restore $716 billion of medicare savings. that was a gift in his concept to older voters. he wanted to restore nasa's

brilliance, a gift to florida's voters. eliminate the estate tax and lower tax rates. people can say that's giving taxpayers money back. these are incentives to join your campaign, support your candidacy. if they doesn't understand that he has a weird conception of what politics is about. >> eric, he's factually incorrect of who is getting these programs. health and human services says 44.6% of those without health insurance are white voters who by the way mitt romney, you know, he lost among them, too. he won a great share of the white vote. on the whole, nationally speaking mitt romney lost. >> sure. this was an election over who you were going to give gifts too. it was who was going to receive them. romney wanted to give gifts to the rich. obama wanted to give to the middle class and the poor. that debate was decided. it wasn't an issue of gifts. it was who is going to pay for the gifts. a lot of the gifts that obama

gave, like obama care, could have given money back to taxpayers through deficit reduction, three reducing health care expenses, student loans the same thing. took the cost out of student loans to taxpayers. the gifts that romney wanted to give to the rich supposedly would have come back to us expanding the economy though there was no evidence of that. romney's gift would have cost taxpayers money. obama's gift saved taxpayers money. >> talk about the splintering inside the republican party or what seems to be happening, you're a supporter of the jindal position which is more tolerant, less coated in racial rhetoric, do you think there's room in the republican party for both of these kinds of voices which is to say, one group of people which is you know karl rove is doubling down saying conservatives shouldn't abandon principles what they need to work on is messaging and bobby jindal advocating for a wholesale rethinking of what conservatism and what the grand

old party means in the 2th century. >> i'm encouraged there are more voices and people in the party advocating i think on the jindal side of the argument. i think that -- i was glad in many respect is it was a definitive outcome, there wasn't a split vote on the electoral college and the popular vote. many republicans have gotten the message. they understand we need to get right on issues like immigration, many others. and to rethink about you know we have to evolve. we can't devolve. we have to move forward, recognize there are flu constituencies and changing demographics and the party needs to change and adapt accordingly. put the compassion back in conservatism and wreck flies this is a new america. >> sam -- >> i think in the immigration policy arena especially a damaging comment from romney. what he's saying is, there's a group of undocumented citizens throughout who are looking for a handout, a citizenship handout

and that's all they want. the approach the republican party has taken to, to say listen we understand they have to work towards that end but give them an incentive to work for. with the dream act it's military service achieving some certain amount of education. but these aren't gifts. these are achievements earned. and romney had -- was looking tats through a prism outdated for modern america. there's a huge growth of the minority population. if that's the prevailing mind-set for the republican party that's deeply troubling for their next whatever, any next election specifically the presidential elections. >> let's talk about sort of the current and practical fight that is on the table for democrats and republicans and that is the president and speaker of the house, john boehner and how they are going about this discussion as far as the bush tax cuts and america's sort of fiscal future. now, mark, i'm curious to hear

your thoughts on this. first play sound from president obama and john boehner yesterday talking about doing the delicate dance of revenue raraisers. >> i'm not going to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%. how you make up the trillion dollars just by closing loopholes and deductions, the math tends not work. >> i've outlined a framework how both parties can work together to avert the fiscal cliff without raising tax rates. ways to put revenue on the table without increasing tax rates. >> mark a baby version of the themes we've talked about before, which is to say you have a hard line part of the republican party then the deal making part of the republican party and the democrats. how do you think this turns out? can john boehner, do you think john boehner can corral or quiet the more radical elements of the republican party to come to the table with the president to make

a grand deal in some form or fashion? >> ultimately, yes. i think those are the starting negotiating positions which are understandable. you have obama 250, you have republicans at least admitting there needs to be new revenue and want to go through the loopholes first and see where they can get revenue there. that's obviously not going to be enough. some point they're going to have to give on it. it may be ultimately that we have a situation where they -- the tax cut dozen expire. we go off the cliff for 24 hours but that offers the republicans an opportunity to come back and vote for a tax cut for those under 250 rather than increase through extension. that's an outcome that's possible. >> i'm curious about the notion the republicans can save face if we go over the fiscal cliff although lately people have been calling it the fiscal curb, it's unclear how much of a steep drop it is in the first 24 hours. can republicans, if the president lets the bush tax cuts expire can the republicans come

back to the table and pass a tax cut, does that work in their favor? do american people say the republicans got owned and have to come to the table and deal with whatever the president wants to do? >> works in their favor with the base. the problem is the base is a losing proposition as was demonstrated by the election. so, they have to make up their mind who are they playing to here? who is their constituency? is it the far right? is it the tea party in which case going over the cliff might serve some of them and their districts or is it the american people? >> by technically you wouldn't be violating the norquist pledge it would have happened and now you're cutting taxes. this is the idea that democrats in the senate want to do, patty murray's talking about let the bush tax cuts expire, build our own obama tax cut package and be credited for a massive tax cut for middle class and below. everything i'm getting out of the white house is they don't want to do that. i'm not sure why. they feel like they can get

resolution before that. history suggests otherwise, i think. >> mark, the president has gone out i would say yosemite sam style $1.6 trillion in revenue double the amount from the previous bargaining sessions. he has learned about playing poker in the modern political landscape. what do you make of what sam just said, he's going to perhaps avoid taking the country over the cliff or the curb, that would be a bid of being reasonable instead of extreme. >> he's in a maximum position of leverage and demonstrating that by taking the most confident position. i think that makes total sense from a negotiating standpoint. if i were the president and his team that's exactly what i'd be doing. >> the question, how do you get the better deal for the american people? do you get it by not going over the cliff or going over the cliff? so far the indications are you go over the cliff. >> mark's point is that you

always have that as an option. >> zblfx yof course of course. >> you need a tiny parachute when you go over the cliff or the curb. >> it's not like everything gets cut and everyone's taxes -- it takes a while for these things to process. >> depends how long you're in free-fall. mark mckinnon, thank you, as always, four insight and valuable centrist, calm reasoning as far as american politics. >> we've got more nolabels.org. >> after the break a battle over what happened when in benghazi. somehow, it has become a fight over a rumored cabinet candidate. the blame game surrounding u.n. ambassador susan rice with another u.n. ambassador bill richardson. the boys use capital one venture miles for their annual football trip.

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the house intelligence committee holding its first formal inquiry into the benghazi attack now on capitol hill. and the senate intelligence committee will convene on this matter later this afternoon. general david patreaus expected to appear at both hearings but will testify tomorrow about his knowledge of the indianapolis dent. announced this morning that secretary of state hillary clinton will testify on benghazi before the house and senate committees next month. questions remain about the libyan attack, some top republicans have turned this into a war on the president. >> i know that people don't come to spontaneous demonstrations with rockets and mortars. for the president of the united states, for two weeks afterwards, to deny that was the case, is either a coverup or it is incompetence.

>> yesterday, a coalition led by senators john mccain, kelly ayotte and lindsey graham close to target the president's staff, specifically the potential nomination of ambassador susan rice as secretary of state. >> we will do whatever's necessary to block the nomination that's within our power as far as susan rice is concerned. >> you don't end up on every single major sunday show without affirmatively putting yourself out there of wanting to carry forward a message on behalf of the administration. >> i don't trust her. the reason i don't trust her is because i think she knew better and if she didn't know better she shouldn't be the voice of america. >> president obama is far from conceding defeat. channeling his own inner mama grizzly. he bears his teeth. >> i'm the president. and i'm always responsible. the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether secretary of state, or u.n. ambassador,

anybody on my team, would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> yesterday, the claws were out. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received and besmirch her reputation is outrageous. >> the president isn't the only one on defense. susan collins said that mccain did not attend his classified briefing on benghazi yesterday. mccain's office tells nbc news that was the result of a quote, schedule error and that he would have otherwise attended.

collins also shot down a call by mccain for watergate style investigations with a select committee. >> i don't see the need for creating a brand-new select committee to take a look at this. >> the house and senate hearings will hopefully clarify what exactly happened in benghazi but to the battle over ambassador rice it's anyone's guess who will wave the white flag first. joining us now, former governor of new mexico and former u.n. ambassador, mr. bill richardson. a pleasure to have you on the program, mr. richardson. >> thank you, alex. >> let's focus first on the mccain, graham, ayotte piece which seems to be political the fact they're calling for watergate style investigations and at the same time, john mccain isn't attending the high-level security briefings relating to the incident. >> well, first, the congress does have a legitimate role in oversight on benghazi, on nominations but, however, this

seems to be getting political though senator mccain is an honorable man. i've known him for many year, but so is ambassador rice. i've known her. she's for thorough professiona. the u.n. ambassador is a cabinet member. but the u.n. ambassador's role is in new york dealing with security counsel, sanctions on iran, sanctions on north korea. you're not in the daily ma maelstrom in washington, d.c. the information that the intelligence community provided her at the time, but that intelligence changes. so i think the president is right, to back his people. secondly, to say that ambassador rice was deceptive is wrong. she is reading from pieces of paper that you get every morning from either a briefer or the intelligence community and that's what she had when she went on those news shows. but to suggest that she is

trying to be deceptive is just not the case. she is a very good ambassador. >> i think the issue there is that that line of argument almost cuts both ways and lindsey graham brought that up. if she isn't the person to be talking substantive about this, just reading briefings and not the qualified person on benghazi why was she put out there. why was susan rice the person delivering the administration's message when it probably should have been the secretary of state? >> well, i think if it were the secretary of state or whomever, both of them would have been reading from those intelligence assessments that were coming out at that time. so i don't understand the argument though i think lindsey graham is also somebody that i know and is very serious and honorable. but i think it's getting political. i don't know if the issue is going to be -- if the president chooses to nominate her as secretary of state or senator kerry, what has also not been

brought up there's a tradition for the u.s. senate to let an american president have who he wants or she wants as secretary of state. you know, now it's they're talking about blocking it and talking about other delaying tactics. i just think things need to cool down. the election's over. let's be bipartisan but especially in foreign policy. >> the governor brings up a good point, this is traditionally not something the president has to fight over. the president yesterday said, look, the election's over. almost as a precursor to, we need to get past this. this seems to be a way for frustrated republicans to wield some power over a choice that should be the president's to make. >> sure. you should be allowed traditionally to appoint your own team, right? there's a sort of conspiracy theory out there that they want to make susan rice unqualifiable or unqualified for the position so they can appoint john kerry which opens up the senate seat

to mass, let's deal with that later. the question for the governor. you affirm the intelligence assessments read on the sunday shows were wrong. and i think it's fair and obvious that the intelligence leading up to the attack was wrong and missed the attack. so can you talk about what type of massive or maybe not so massive intelligence failure occurred on the president's watch and what can be done to actually fix that? >> look, what the president has said and what is going on is an investigation. ambassador tom pickering, probably the most senior member conducting that investigation, you to read all of the e-mails, all of the cables, all of the meetings, and you make an assessment of who bears some responsibility in this issue. is it diplomatic security? is intelligence? i think there's another issue here which really concerns me and that at one point the

disclosure of some of our libyan assets was made publicly by one of the house committees. i think we have to be very careful about issues like sources and methods to ensure that in this investigation, which should happen, it is the role of the congress, that your responsible, you're not damaging american national security interests. >> but, governor, i also want to ask the other piece of the puzzle is david patreaus. and in the weeks after the incident in benghazi, the vice president laid some blame or some onus on the shoulders of the cia, general patreaus was director at that point, he's volunteered to testify, he will testify friday, amid swirling scandal. but to what degree do you think he needs to play defense on this? >> well, alex, i'm not sheer in washington, i don't have all of beltway information. what i do know and what i did understand was disclosed was, unclassified information from the cia that demonstrated an

enormous amount of agents and individuals concerned about what happened in benghazi that were ready to be helpful. and i think in that sense, general patreaus played an important and positive role. >> we will be watching those hearings with bated breath. governor bill richardson thank you for the time and insight? president obama tells the white house press corps and nation he hopes to begin his second term with a national conversation on climate change. as he tours damage from hurricane sandy, should that conversation start before inauguration day? we'll ask new york city deputy mayor howard wolfson, just ahead. time for the "your business" entrepreneurs of the week. kathleen and susan are encouraging cuss plers to shop local. they created the monthly ladies night in the magnolia park area of burbank, california to boost sales by staying open late.

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yesterday president obama said he would soon begin conversations with lawmakers and scientists but acknowledged that the main challenge is coming up with a solution that doesn't slow the economy. >> if, on the other hand, we can shape an agenda that says, we can create jobs, advance growth, and make a serious dent in climate change and be an international lead, that's something the american people would support. >> joining the panel now, deputy mayor of new york city, how arld wolfson and co-create of the daly show, liz winstead. large work at feet of new york city. new york city evacuation shelters as of monday housed nearly 1500 evacuees and nearly 25,000 customers still without power. that said as a resident of new

york city i've been pleased how fast much of the faufr infrastructure's up and running. >> there are significant portions of the city and the president will see them today on staten island that have not recovered somewhere people were cleaning out basements and throwing waterlogged furniture to get carted away, people lost home, in some cases friends, relatives, neighbors, their lives. manhattan, things are relatively back to normal. bronx never hard hit. there are certainly parts of brooklyn and queens and staten island still really suffering. and the city's job remains trying to help those folks get back what they've lost. >> internally, as you look at the road, we know eric schneiderman is investigating, issued subpoenas, sorry to the long island power authority and

con ed, the notion there's criminal negligence is -- i won't say shocking but unprecedented in terms of storms and how cities weather storms. >> the most important thing in the aftermath of the storm was to get people electricity back. once you have electricity you begin the recovery process. people would say we're ready to begin rebuilding. we'd like to get to work but we can't do anything until we have electricity. getting electricity back to homeowners to buildings, residents was the most important task. most of coned restored power in its area. lipa which handles rockaways and long island is lagging behind. >> let's put this in the larger context. we had an incredibly violent storm, once in 100 year hurricane, superstorm, one predicted to hit last year. that would be two big megastorms only supposed to occur every 100

years happening in two years. we don't know if climate change was behind this. it opened up the national dialogue to the problems we have in terms of energy and our energy sources. the president, yesterday, said he was going to be talking with people but i guess in terms of moving the ball forward on all things green, all things relating to the environment and our energy policy how optimistic are you that we're going to find a solution to this in the coming years, which is to say the next four? >> you know, in hearing the president speak and reading -- it's i guess confused as an observer and i love listening to you but trying to parse out what it means because what it goes back to for me, in the election, when politicians were separating ow the economy from birth control i was like, no, it's the same. when we hear, we have to see what's economically sound, and when we talk about climate change and energy, didn't i just hear, and don't we think the future is green jobs and what

that means? so kind of stepping back, makes me feel frustrated because i feel like isn't that the direction we need to be going in and how do we convince americans that, yeah, you know what, prices at pump have to go up if we want to have them not? >> you can ask somebody who has lost a business in coney island or in the rockaways if this is about jobs and growth. >> right. >> there are people who are going to take months to recover their businesses who have lost everything. and you know for them this is an economic issue. climate change is an economic issue if you've lost your business to a flood. you know, those are people who are suffering as a result of inaction at the global level. >> we talk about how the republicans wrap their arms around this, how they can find some cover for moving the ball forward on energy policies that would hurt the oil and gas industry. one of the arguments they need to embrace this as an economic issue. this isn't about being green or endangered species or warming the earth. this is just about jobs. the president seems to be

getting to try to conflate those two things. >> climate solution that's on the table, cap and trade is like obama care. it came from republicans. john mccain was the guy who drove cap and trade. now the republicans have turned their back on their own solution which was market-based solution. now they're calling it a carbon tax though what cap and trade would do would create a different set of incentives that everyone in the market would get to participate in. the problem politically politics placed the emphasis on the wrong place. politics isn't set up to deal with long-term problems and we treat climate as if it's a long-term problem, it's not. forget about the fiscal cliff there's a climate cliff and we've already gone over it and that's what's disturbing about the president's remarks. they don't reflect the urgency of the reality. >> we were at a good turning point of al gore's movie, public

pressure mounting to do something and over time likely because of the recession we moved away from that conversation. i can't help but think if it was ohio and not new york that was hit by a storm like this that we would have a different conversation going on. and i think you're right. i think, as these things accumulate and events become much more closer in time period, the pressure starts to mount again. and it's ironic that there will be, you know, at some point in time people like you and the mayor have to think what you have to do to prepare for the next one and it's very soon. that will be another debate what role does government have to play in preparedness? >> right. there's the idea of sacrifice, right? someone, in "the new york times" today advocating you can't have beachfront property, it's not feasible, you can't expect the federal to pick up the tab. >> manhattan's an island and betweens and brooklyn is on an island. we can't move these places

inward. that's where they are. >> i would say, i'm from minnesota. you can't have prairie front properties? you have drought. it's not about the rising sea levels. it's about the climate changing in all of these different areas. when you hear mayors, like in minneapolis saying it's incredible. >> mayors -- >> a national organization, mayors all around the world getting weather to address climate change at the local level he endorsed president obama because of his position on climate change better than mitt romney's and we're hoping that the president will lead. we were encouraged by his comment. obviously begins with a conversation. and it needs more than a conversation. we need leadership and we need results. >> now. specifically. thank you to our mayor -- not our mayor yet.

>> who knows? >> putting it out. new york city deputy mayor, howard wolfson, thank you as always. after the break we've heard a lot about the cons of super pacs but not the pros. did the democrats prove less is more?

obama money bunny and frequent nowest bill burton pines for a day without super pacs including the last time on the television program. is there hope that you will -- that your position will one day not exist? >> yes. no, i hope that super pacs don't exist that's the democratic position, that's where the president comes to this. >> that was the day before the election. now with a victory feather in his cap, does bill burton still feel the same way?

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americans spent much of the election season worrying about super pacs attacking over our electoral process. crossroads spent over $175 million with little to show for it. on the other side pro-obama super pac priorities usa action saw greater success. credit has been given to the obama team's expanding innovations but the romney campaign outfoxed thanks to a crafty new internet strategy on the super pac front. politico notes success of priorities usa laying dedication to the internet, web videos drew

six times amount of eyeballs as crossroads ones. the super pac era is just beginning. according to rove, democratic attacks aren't weakening commitment of conservative super pac benny factors. they're in it for the long hall. their attitude is, fight goes on, beat them next time. rove said obama officials and democratic apparatchiks designs to weaken support for conservative super pacs. priorities usa actions, bill burton, our very own money boo boo. respond to karl rove. is this a for end the era of super pacs on the part of left. >> democrats want to end super pacs. nobody on the democratic side thinks this is where you can run

an election. it's just there should be limits, transparency. since there wasn't we got involved to fight karl rove and what we thought was a big nasty strategic machine but turned out to not be exactly that. fairness to them, two quick things on all of the different things you had up on the screen. digital strategy that was out of necessity because we knew we wouldn't have as much as karl rove and the other guys. we needed to spend our money more efficiently. we had great digital strategists and able to get into twitter, facebook, youtube and make a difference with our stuff. second, on their side they had to follow mitt romney's campaign and mitt romney's campaign was all over the map at any given time, advertising on jobs, debt, welfare reform, war on religion. if you're karl rove, where is our lane we're supposed to swim? on the democratic side it was all about the middle class all the time and that's the focus.

>> and attacking mitt romney's record at bain all at time. >> if mitt romney wins, the middle class loses, those two things married up well. >> liz, as someone who is -- zb >> not an apparahchic. >> they bought words u including words economy, dressage. while it's funny, shrewd strategic move speaks to the ethos of two campaigns, the notion there was a sense of humor the obama campaign understood, a way of poking fun at mitt romney that was quietly devastating. mitt romney never had that on his side. no way to be funny or clever about president obama. >> the left has the fun.

and you guys were awesome. but there was also, i'm going to toot my own horn, because we came up with this actually campaign where we had rosy perez and all of these people having fun. i did crazy videos not safe for work that were like in your face like this is what happens when you have a transvaginal thing if you don't want to get f'd, vote. we got almost 1 million views in two days because people -- i got tons of e-mails of people saying another way of doing it is, to be the person who doesn't coordinate with anybody, not with you guys, not with the administration but with what we're feeling and saying this is a new language that people speak, young people, they swear sometimes and hit it and cost a couple grand and we -- it's like a whole -- they don't have fun over there. >> it's a generational shift, too. >> yes. >> talk about the data crunchers. sasha eisenberg writes about

this, the left has a lock on programmers and data crunchers coming out of universities and institution. the right needs to develop those folks and funny people that make better ads and better at language and rhetoric and the internet that surrounds the political campaign, eric. >> the romney campaign made a calculated bet, as discussed before, to go with angry old white people one last time. kind of one last hurrah, that's the demographic, they got just enough turnout to get through, and that didn't work. if you're angry and old, you're not laughing it up, you know, by definition. and you're not a young techny krat by definition. that does create that problem. there's the argument that karl rove did -- all of the money kept things from being worse for republicans. do you think there's some credence?

>> no, look at october of last year the president had right track number at 15, unemployment got up to 10.8%. anybody would have thought this election was mitt romney's to lose. and that's not how to turned out. >> what does bill burton do now? >> what do you do now? >> looking in classified ads? >> i am. i heard you might need help sweeping up around here. >> we need interns. i'll have a turkey sandwich. >> thank you, eric, bill, sam, liz. see you tomorrow, noon eastern joined by chris hayes, josh green, karen finney, author jay mcinerny. behind the scenes footage of the money bunny. check out facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. >> good afternoon. hearings begin into benghazi. joining me, new hampshire

republican senator kelly ayotte and north dakota democratic senator, kent conrad. intense israeli assault in gaza. we have live reports from the region and from israel's ambassador to the united states, michael oren. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. only on msnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do more emergency workers everywhere trust duracell...?? duralock power preserve. locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. now...guaranteed. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere.